


Gerti's Christmas

by fortytworedvines



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: F/M, Fluff, For Fun!, Gen, it's Christmas!, on gerti!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21942076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortytworedvines/pseuds/fortytworedvines
Summary: Gerti anticipates a lonely Christmas. Arthur has other ideas.
Relationships: Carolyn Knapp-Shappey/Herc Shipwright, arthur shappey & gerti
Comments: 14
Kudos: 23





	Gerti's Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the fandot secret santa 2019 for mjn-air on tumblr.

Gerti sat in her hangar, quietly. It was Christmas Eve and MJN’s crew had had not only today, but yesterday _and_ tomorrow off. Gerti was pleased for them; it would be nice for them to have a break, after all, but she was a little sad for herself. Last year’s trip had been so much fun after all, even if having strips of dried chicken distributed about her interior wasn’t entirely pleasant.

The hangar door creaked open and she waited, expectantly.

“Hello old girl,” Karl said as he patted her, “Happy Christmas. I brought you something.” If Gerti’s APU had been on she’d have hummed at him, but as it was she merely sat in silence, appreciating it, as he draped some tinsel over her nose. He patted her again and then left, sheepishly.

“Mum,” Arthur said as he attacked a bowl of sprouts, “Gerti’s going to be all alone.”

“What?” Carolyn said distractedly, “Athur! Can’t you be more careful! There’ll be nothing left of them at this rate. What do you mean, Gerti’s going to be all alone?”

“Because we aren’t flying,” he said, paying slightly more attention to what he was doing. “Don’t you think she’ll be really sad?”

“Arthur, light of my life, Gerti is a plane. She can’t _be_ sad.”

“Oh. I think she can though.”

“Well, what would you have me to do about it? Book her some therapy with a well-known plane psychologist?”

“Well, no. I thought we could go and spend Christmas with her, so she’s not lonely.”

Carolyn put down her spoon. “You want us to go and celebrate Christmas on a plane. When we don’t have to?”

“Not _a_ plane, mum. Gerti! Gerti’s special. And we can invite Martin, and Douglas, because he isn’t seeing his daughter till Boxing Day, and -”

“And Herc.”

“Yes! See, you’ve got the idea now.”

“You want me to tell Herc that the pleasant, slightly drunken, day we have planned is now going to take place on a cold aeroplane?”

“It won’t be cold if we turn the heating on.”

“Tell me again what we’re doing here?” Douglas said as he joined the others outside Gerti’s hanger.

“We’re celebrating Christmas, Douglas!” Arthur said.

“Because Gerti might be lonely on her own?”

“That is the crux of Arthur’s argument,” Carolyn admitted. “It’s very good of you and Martin to join us. And that was your Christmas present, by the way.”

“A pleasant remark? I’ll take it,” Martin said. “I didn’t have anything planned anyway, my family are all away in various places. I’m quite happy to keep Gerti from feeling sad. Are we going to fly her?”

“Oh, can we mum? Please!”

“Waste hundreds of pounds on a jolly to entertain ourselves? Certainly not. We’ll take her out of the hanger though, it’ll be less gloomy.”

Gerti brightened as the hangar door opened. She wasn’t expecting anybody; the ground crew had all visited her yesterday. But it was the crew! Her crew! And that new man, what was his name? Herc. That was it, the one that Carolyn had liked. She was pleased to see him, Carolyn deserved somebody nice in her life. Memories of Gordon still made Gerti shudder and she was forever thankful that Carolyn had saved her from a fate worse than death, with her tail stuck over his mantelpiece. She hadn’t yet managed to find a way to tell Carolyn about the miles of gold that ran through her, but maybe she could help her find happiness with Herc.

“Why is there tinsel on her?” Martin asked as he pulled it off.

“Oh, probably somebody’s idea of a joke,” Douglas said as he unlocked the door. “Come on, let’s get her out.” Douglas patted the console as he sat in his seat. “Remember last Christmas?”

Martin laughed. “That was good fun. We were all very inventive.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a green brolly with you again?”

Martin opened his bag, “No, but I did bring decorations with me.” He ran the tinsel he’d retrieved from her nose around the windscreen, and added baubles to some of the levers. “There you go.”

Douglas shook his head, “You’re as bad as Arthur.”

“So were you, last year.”

“Fair point. Come on, let’s get her moving.” He clicked the APU and Martin gave a gasp. “What?” Douglas asked.

“Did you feel that? There was a little jump.”

“No, I didn’t. Have you started on the alcohol already?”

“I only had half a glass of mulled wine,” Martin said, defensively.

“Alright, keep your hat on! And keep an eye out for Arthur won’t you? I don’t want to spoil the day by squishing him.”

Gerti rolled out of the hangar into bright sunlight, and Martin lowered the stairs for the others to come up.

“Right, what have we got?” Douglas said as they stood in the galley. He opened his bag and produced a number of foil-covered plates. “I’ve brought turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pudding.”

“Same from us,” Carolyn said.

“I brought crackers.” Martin produced them as he spoke, “I was only planning a baked potato.”

“Crackers are really important, Skip!” Arthur said, “Oh, you made them yourself, that’s brilliant.”

“I brought a bottle of wine.” Herc put it on the side.

“Arthur isn’t allowed that,” Carolyn put in hastily.

“Why not?”

“It might be as bad as the peach schnapps incident! Don’t worry, I brought pineapple juice for us, Douglas.”

“And where are we going to eat this feast?” Herc asked.

“Let’s sit in the aisle! That’ll be fun!”

“Less fun for those of us over forty,” Douglas drawled, “I think I’ll take a seat.”

Martin produced his bag of decorations. “Arthur, why don’t you help me while the others get the food sorted?”

“Brilliant idea Skip! I’m so pleased you brought them, Gerti will love having proper decorations.”

Martin and Arthur busied themselves with a large bag of tinsel. Arthur crowned each seat with its own little piece, while Martin adorned the arm-rests (hyphenated).

“Oh, I’ve got a little bit left over,” Arthur exclaimed, “Brilliant, I’ve always wanted a halo.”

“Boys!” Carolyn emerged from the galley, “What enthusiastic decoration.”

“Thanks mum!”

“It’s time to eat, so finish up.”

“This is really good,” Martin said as he tucked into his massive plate of food.

“It is good,” Herc agreed, “And the quality is in no way diminished by the fact that we are all, voluntarily, eating it in a grounded aeroplane.”

“But Gerti’s really glad we’re here,” Arthur said, “Thank you.”

“How can you tell?” Martin asked, “She’s a plane.”

“Yes, but she _feels_ happy.”

“My son,” Carolyn said with a sigh, “Needs to go on a course on understanding people, but understands aeroplanes with ease.”

“Board games!” Cried Arthur, when they’d eaten themselves into a happy stupor.

“I think I’ll pass,” Douglas said sleepily, “I might have a little nap.”

“I’ll play, Arthur,”Martin said, shooting an amused glance at his first officer.

“Why don’t you two set something up,” Herc said, “Carolyn, could I just have a word with you, on the flight deck?”

“Why?” Carolyn asked, suspiciously.

“Well, if you must know, because I would like to kiss you without an audience.”

“Oh,” Carolyn flushed, “Well, okay then.”

Gerti had thoroughly enjoyed the decorations that Martin and Arthur had strewn throughout her. Last year had had a certain makeshift charm, but there was something to be said for real tinsel and baubles. She waited with interest as Herc and Carolyn entered the flight deck and closed the door behind them. If she’d been able, she’d have blushed when Herc pulled Carolyn close and kissed her thoroughly.

Douglas was dozing quietly, Martin and Arthur were having a heated game of Connect Four, Herc and Carolyn’s romance seemed to be going well. It was Gerti’s best Christmas ever.


End file.
